CHAPTER VI

WITHIN a few days the workmen arrived at the guesthouse. Tall, powerfully built Fijians, they tumbled out of dust-coated trucks and, seemingly impervious to heat and humidity, began without delay to tear down rotting timbers and to rip out inside walls, leaving parts of the building open to sunlight and stars. Scaffolding was erected and before long the air was filled with the sound of hammering and the rasp and buzz of chain saws.

As the days went by she found herself endlessly looking for David, her eyes scanning the fragment of the coast road visible from the house in search of his long red car. But of course he didn't have to be here. Why should he? He had already completed the plans for the renovation. Now the actual manual labour was over to other hands, building contractors, plumbing firms, electricians. There was no other reason to draw him back to the Islander. Johnny, angry and resentful, had vanished into the blue and of course David wasn't interested in her. Not in that way, the only way that mattered. Except of course as someone to tease, to argue with. She couldn't understand why she missed him so. He wasn't even all that good-looking, only dark and burly and easy to get along with (except when they had one of their frequent arguments).

By the end of the week the new outline was taking definite shape and soon the smell of paint mingled with the resinous tang of freshly-cut timber. Over the paths winding amongst the palms concrete was being poured in an endless stream and on the slope fronting the main entrance a bulldozer was busy churning up sand and earth in preparation for the construction of the turtle-shaped swimming pool.

And still David hadn't come back to the Islander. As day followed day Robyn continued to take the Katrina out to the gardens of the reef. It was so easy to manoeuvre the boat nowadays that she couldn't think how she could ever have imagined it to be difficult. Even without a larger craft she could still have arranged for one of the native boys to dive in the water and recover bounty from the deep, but somehow the scheme didn't appeal any longer. Even to herself she refused to admit that it was because David had been adamant on that point and somehow she hesitated to defy him.

The remainder of the time she was free, to wander barefoot over the sands, to swim and sunbathe and dream. Johnny might come to his senses in time and decide to work in with David after all. It would be so wonderful because then she would be free to ... to ... Always at this point her thoughts stopped. She would be caught in a longing piercing in its intensity. If only David would come back ! This time things would be different. She wouldn't even mention Johnny's name and spoil everything.

Yet when he did arrive she was taken by surprise. She hadn't seen his car in the driveway and coming up from the beach she suddenly found herself looking up to meet his friendly grin. "How's everything going, Rob?" His tone was quite impersonal.

"Oh ... fine." Swept by confusion, she didn't know what to say. If he was still thinking in terms of their last stormy meeting, and this was the way he wanted it ... A building overseer was approaching along the winding path, and with a hurried "See you," she flung him a smile and went on towards the house. If he wants to see me he can easily find me, she told herself, but he made no immediate effort to seek her out and, piqued and hurt, she took care to keep out of his way.

It was really surprising, she found during the following days, how easy it was to avoid someone if you really put your mind to it. Especially when there was so much movement going on all around her. When for all her efforts to avoid him, her cool nod was met by his smiling greeting, she hurried on, giving him no opportunity to linger.

Looking back it seemed to her now that the shining happiness of their meeting at the native markets, the cruise on the Olooloo, might never have been. Forget it, Rob. Better not to let yourself get involved with him. Good thinking, but somehow difficult to put into practice. Had he approached her, asked her to forget their differences, make it "start-again" time once more, she knew she wouldn't have hesitated to meet him half-way, not for one moment! Only he never did. Perhaps he was too busy with his own activities to waste time with a stupid girl with crazy schemes for coral boats. More likely he just ... didn't care. Especially now that he was expecting his "friend" at the Islander, that super-efficient woman who, from what she could gather, was just about everything that she herself wasn't! Trained to a high standard of efficiency in dealing with the public, an expert in all aspects of tourism; confident, poised, inwardly secure. Lovely to look at too, she wouldn't wonder, Robyn mused moodily.

But whatever their private differences she was forced to admit that David deserved his reputation as a leading architect of the South Pacific. Without apparent effort and in spite of lazy island atmosphere he seemed to have a knack of getting things done. Now that the project was nearing completion she could see that he had achieved his objective, that special harmony with the elements of nature. How had he put it? "An involvement with the environment." For viewed from the vantage point of the Katrina out at the coral reef, the low thatched roofs and stained timbers in the shelter of the clutered coconut palms fringing the sandy shore blended to form part of the surrounding landscape.

One day on her return from her trip on the glass-bottomed boat she found a letter awaiting her. It was from a large group of travel promoters with headquarters in Suva, commissioning the painting of a special mural featuring facets of Fijian life to be hung in the native-style restaurant of one of a chain of world-class hotels now in the course of construction in the islands of Fiji. In addition she was requested to execute a number of wall hangings in the media of black velvet, preferably native women and child studies.

Robyn couldn't understand why she wasn't more excited over this unexpected stroke of good fortune. She had heard of the Plantation, of course, one of a chain of luxurious hotels now being erected on the opposite coast. To have her pictures on exhibition there must inevitably lead to further commissioned art work of a similar nature. It was wonderful of Johnny to have mentioned her name and thus put the opportunity her way. Why then wasn't she more elated by this sudden success? Somehow all she could think of was David. This would serve to show him that she wasn't utterly without talents, even if her gifts didn't lie in the direction of hostessing for the tourist trade. Then she remembered. At the moment they weren't exactly on speaking terms, she and David, and he wouldn't be the slightest bit interested in her affairs anyway. The thought took the edge from the news. Oh, why did he have to spoil everything for her? she thought illogically.

The letter still in her hand, she made her way along the snowy concrete path leading towards the line of bures with their tattered thatched roofing and peeling paintwork. Soon, she knew, the shabby huts would be demolished, but meantime they made a temporary shelter for the staff, Mrs. Daley and herself while the main building was in the course of renovation. David made visits to the Islander from the big hotel around the point. Did he stay there in order to avoid contact with her? She couldn't tell. She wished she knew the answer.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't see him approaching her. The next moment she was enmeshed in his brown gaze, where surprise mingled with something else ... something that had the effect of turning her mind into a wild confusion so that she forgot everything but the warm intimacy of his gaze, made her cry "David !" in a delighted way when she should have gone right past him with a couldn't-care-less smile But it was too late. Her heart was racing and he was smiling, and all at once the blue-skied day was electric, like herself.

"Got some mail, Robyn?"

Ordinary enough words. No reason at all for her to feel this surge of pure happiness. "Oh yes, yes!" Belatedly she wrenched her gaze away and stared down at the folded paper in her hand. "It's fantastic! The most wonderful news ever! Do you know, I've just been offered a commission for a mural and wall hangings. Guess who it's from !"

"Tell me." He looked almost as delighted as herself.

"The plantation ! The big new hotel that's going up on the other coast. I just can't believe I've been so lucky !"

"Not lucky, Rob, talented. You know, you deserve a break. Your work's good and you get just the right touch, a balance between modern stylized forms and the spirit of Fiji itself. Going to make it figures or shells and sea stuff ?"

"I haven't decided yet." She was still breathless with happiness. "They've given me a free field for the mural, I thought maybe a seascape, and for the black velvet wall hangings I've got to use native figures, women and children preferred."

"Those child studies you made at the native village," enthusiasm coloured his tone, "you could work from those !"

"That's what I thought too !" At the warmth of his voice all her worries were miraculously magicked away. Oh, it was heaven to have him on her side like this, helping instead of opposing her.

"Congratulations ! This calls for a celebration, but for a start, how about a personally conducted tour of inspection?"

He caught her fingers in a warm clasp and they strolled over lush green lawns together, pausing to watch the concrete being poured into the hollowed-out shape at the foot of the slope. In a lull in the din of the mixers, David said, "That was an inspiration of yours, having the pool made turtle-shaped. It's something different from all the others on the island, topical too !" He turned to her with a grin. "All things considered, we make a pretty good team, wouldn't you say?" He was squinting into the sun and she couldn't tell whether or not he was making fun of her. You could never be sure with David. Not that it mattered, of course, yet somehow it did — terribly.

The noise started again and he drew her forward. "Come on, let's get out of here. It'll be much more interesting in a couple of weeks' time when the blue tiles are all down and the infiltration plant's working. After that, I've got ideas about having the slope terraced ... flowering shrubs dotted about ... what do you think?"

"That would be super! Hibiscus — lots of them !" In her new-found happiness all thought of barbed rejoinders and significant silences fled from her mind.

"Colour?"

"Every shade there is ! Pink, red, yellow, orange ... and around the edge of the pool, those purple orchids that grow wild around here. They'd be tall enough to lean over the edge of the water."

"It's as good as done ! We'll have them.' We!

As they moved into the shade of the thatched walkway connecting the main building with the wide patio, David remarked, "I've ordered small tables and chairs for this area. Sun umbrellas for the tables set out on the grass and a food bar running along the back wall."

"Could we have violet-coloured table tops with black wrought-iron chairs?"

"Why not?"

They strolled on past small thatched huts now being painted in gay colours that were dotted amidst surrounding greenery. "You know something, Rob? You've been a terrific help to me with all this."

"Me?"

"But you have ! I'll tell you something else too." She could scarcely concentrate on what he was saying for the excitement running from his fingers to her own. "Any architect will tell you that his best work comes from a definite empathy with the client ... harmony of interest. You know?"

Was he having a joke at her expense? She couldn't tell. His tone was non-committal, so why was she trembling? Lamely she heard herself murmur, "I'm not a client — well, not exactly." She added in some confusion, "And we haven't been all that close —"

"We could be," he said softly.

She caught her breath. Just what did he mean by that? But a workman came into sight, clearly in search of David and he turned to speak with him. Afterwards they moved past the wide picture windows with their vista of palms and lagoon and as they entered the cool dimness of the low ranch-style building, Robyn said, "Tell me about yourself."

He grinned down at her. "Nothing much to tell."

"I don't believe it. Went to school . . . where?"

"Sleepy little village in Cornwall."

"And then?"

"On to university in London for a course of architecture, and that was about it."

"Oh, come on, you must have done something more than just study —"

"Not for a long time. I was lucky ... managed to gain a travelling scholarship in Architecture that took me to Germany and further study. After that it was private practice in England, then this trip out to the South Pacific. Not a very interesting account, really."

"It is to me." Or would be, she amended silently, if only he hadn't left out all the important things, such as how it was that he had reached the age of thirty or thereabouts and was still a bachelor. Suddenly she found herself feeling awfully glad that he hadn't married a girl overseas.

"This room at the entrance," he was saying, "is to be the craft shop."

She paused beside him. "I can imagine. Quaint little place with lots of local souvenirs — nice ones that folk can take home with them. Especially light-weight articles for air travellers. Clothing too ... fun shirts for the men, sulus and saris for the girls, for that island dinner. We must have some of those pretty 'butterfly frocks' with the wide sleeves." She laughed up at him. "Just the thing to get the feminine guests into the exotic South Pacific island atmosphere!"

"You don't mind giving a hand there?"

"I don't mind." Today she didn't care about anything, not

even conceding him a point on the matter of assisting with the craft shop.

"It'll mean giving up the coral boat excursions you like so much."

"I know. I've thought of that, but it will be only until Johnny gets back —" swiftly she ran on before he could make any comment, "and Selani's got a boy-friend in the village who would be ideal for the job. They're hoping to get married one of these days and it would help him, and her too."

"Great! That's settled, then. You'll need to get in some stock before the opening date. Could I leave that part of things with you? Maybe you could get on the phone and put an order in to the stores in Suva?"

"No problem." The airy mood persisted.

They moved through the kitchen, now transformed into an attractive work area with long shining stainless steel benches, excellent lighting, a long white electric range and electric mixers and dishwasher.

Eve Daley followed them in, her grey locks still damp from her swim.

"Isn't it hot outside! Thank heaven for decent air-conditioning at last! As well as for everything else one could possibly wish for in cooking for a crowd of guests !" She put an experimental finger on the drying paintwork. "I'm glad you're getting in a professional chef, David, now the place has a first-class restaurant. I'll be much happier just looking after the housework and keeping an eye on the maids. Right now I'm having a holiday, a good excuse to take things easy. Would you two care to join me, have coffee ?"

"Sorry," David declined the invitation, "but we're on a tour of inspection. Self-contained units coming up! On your way, Robyn!"

They moved into the first apartment where the smell of recent paintwork still lingered. Robyn glanced around her in unconcealed admiration, taking in the harmonious colour scheme in tonings of cream and amber and rich browns. Her gaze moved over the twin day beds with their gay covers, white paintwork, white venetian blinds at the windows. The stained floors were covered with matting. "I had no idea the furnishings had arrived."

"They came late last night. I got the boys to give me a hand to arrange them."

She glanced into a small kitchen with its orange table-top and matching chairs, bamboo-coloured painted cupboards, small refrigerator and electric stove.

In the bathroom the primrose shaded bath and basin were matched by a shower curtain printed in a design of the tiny tropical fish that swarmed in the waters of the reef. It was all fresh and attractive, a delight to the eye.

Back in the lounge room she put out a finger to touch a line of 'switches on the wall. "For goodness' sake," she marvelled, reading out the printed notices, "dry cleaning, laundry, hairdressing, room service — there'll be a knob to press for baby-sitter wanted next !"

"There is, second to the left."

"You'll need an awful lot of staff to run all these different services —"

"We' he corrected gently. "We'll get them. Why don't you try the end button and see what happens?"

For answer she touched the switch and immediately the soft strains of Fijian music with its haunting cadence fell around them. She turned towards him, smiling, "Or would you rather have —"

"This !" He took a step towards her and at the brilliant intensity of his gaze she felt again that wild sense of excitement. Then, "I thought I'd find you here," said a cool voice from the doorway, and Robyn's dazed glance took in the immaculately dressed girl who stood observing them.

"Ni sa bula, welcome to Fiji ! " It seemed that nothing could throw David, not even the mocking glance of those lively hazel eyes. Or could it be, Robyn wondered over a stab of pain, that he was genuinely pleased to see Maria, for who else could it be?

"The old dear in the kitchen told me I'd find you up here, and I didn't see any 'do not disturb' notices around." She had a clear ringing laugh, even when there was nothing to laugh about, the thought flashed through Robyn's confused mind. "And anyway, I thought you'd be glad to see me, David, any time at all !"

"Of course. When did you get in?"

"Five minutes or so ago, on the local plane. I would have let you know of the change of plan, but Ann rang me in Sydney to say she was making the trip to Fiji too and I couldn't miss out on the chance of coming with her!" Again that peal of meaningless laughter.. "I knew you wouldn't mind how early I turned up !" All at once Robyn felt left out, of no importance — worse, in the way. Maria was running on, she thought angrily, just as though Robyn weren't in the room. Did the other girl in her sophisticated black outfit mistake Robyn for one of the maids? Certainly that was the impression she managed to convey.

At last in a pause in the flow of words David said in his deep quiet tones. "Maria ... Robyn Carlisle, the owner. I told you about her when I rang through to you, remember?"

Just how much had he told the other girl, Robyn wondered, of the true position at the motel?

"Owner!" Light pencilled brows rose in surprise (or was the astonishment simulated? Robyn asked herself.) "Oh yes," the careless tone dismissed her with a word, "you're so young, aren't you?" She made it sound like a crime, Robyn thought furiously. "Wasn't there a brother somewhere in the picture?" Her tone implied that a bachelor brother was infinitely more interesting than a freckle-faced girl with sand-encrusted bare brown legs and little to say for herself.

"Is he around?"

"No, he —" All at once Robyn caught the mocking expression in the lively hazel eyes. She knew. Someone must have told her about Johnny, and who could that "someone" be but David? It seemed that Maria was deliberately trying to humiliate her. If Maria and David were friends, perhaps even something more than friends, wouldn't that explain the other girl's openly contemptuous attitude towards her? Whatever the reason, she doesn't like me one little bit. Well, that goes for me too !

"He's away just now," David came to her rescue.

"But he'll be back, once we're in business again," Robyn put in quickly.

"Will he? You're his sister, you should know!" Maria smiled her gay assured smile. "I certainly hope you're right, but —" glancing towards her in swift apprehension, Robyn caught the flicker of feline malice in Maria's gaze, "from what I've heard he isn't all that interested in the place. I mean, maybe he's looking for an easier way out of his troubles !"

Robyn swallowed the hot words of denial that choked in her throat. What use to argue the matter? Maria's knowledgeable smile would defeat any excuses she might offer in defence of Johnny's behaviour. David must have told her all the facts of the matter. Robyn's cheeks burned at the thought of the other two discussing the feckless Carlisles, now totally dependent on strangers to rescue them from their financial difficulties.

As she turned aside, an inborn habit of politeness made her say, "Would you care to have a look around first, or would you rather go to your room and freshen up after the trip in the heat?"

"Do I look as if I need to?" Maria turned a laughing flawless face towards her.

Confused, Robyn muttered, "No, no, I didn't mean that."

"I'll forgive you." Maria flashed her brilliant smile. Robyn wondered if the other girl would forgive so easily the moment of intimacy she had interrupted a few minutes previously. Aloud she said, "I'm afraid there are only the old Fiji-type bures ready for living in just now. The new units smell so horribly of new paint. But if you don't mind sleeping in a hut like the rest of us . . . it will be only for a day or two."

"My dear child, I don't mind anything!" But Robyn suspected that the other girl minded very much finding her here with David. "Oh, Maria'll enjoy going native and sleeping out in a thatched hut, won't you?" He grinned towards her. "The fans are still working in the old bures, so it won't be too much of a change of climate after Switzerland."

"You know me, David, anything for a change !" The provocative smile she sent towards him wasn't exactly the smile of a woman chatting with her dead husband's friend, Robyn mused unhappily. Unless David was something more than a friend. Her mind went off at a tangent. If only Maria's appearance weren't so perfect! Short-short fitting black frock, dark stockings, black suede shoes. Cropped curly brown hair, a round face with a quick, bright expression. A laughing voice that seemed to imply so much more than the lightly-spoken words. Not outstandingly pretty by conventional standards, but her air of confidence and vivacity made her attractive —at least David apparently thought so. As to the perfection of the lithe figure, of that there could be no doubt at all.

They moved along the hall together, Maria's heels clattering on the newly-varnished timbers. At the entrance David picked up the two expensive-looking travel bags and Robyn led the way down the winding path towards the line of bures.

"You've been busy here, David," Maria was glancing appreciatively around her. "Looks like you've poured a lot of capital into the project. I hope you can get it back again."

"That's where I'm depending on you, Maria."

She turned to smile into his eyes. "Is that the only reason why you dragged me half way around the world?"

Through a fog of misery that had descended around her Robyn mused that it was a loaded question, but apparently David chose to read no particular significance into the lightly-spoken words. "When I think of what you did with that rundown old chalet up in the Alps —"

"Don't forget how much your interior design helped it along —"

"And that tourist hotel in Austria."

"Oh, I had Keith with me then."

"Remember the Italian chef we had there? Those marvellous dinners he used to put on?"

"Could I ever forget Giorgio?"

Robyn had the impression of a door being slammed against her as the other two went on to talk of a sophisticated world that she would never know.

When they reached the shabby bures, Robyn threw open a door. "I'll get Selani to bring some iced water."

Maria didn't appear to have heard. She was standing quite still looking up at the tattered thatch roofing above her head. "Isn't that rather a fire hazard ?"

"Could be, but not to worry," David assured her. "You won't be in here for long —"

"And Mrs. Daley told me we've never yet had a fire at the Islander," Robyn put in.

Still the other girl stood motionless. "Who sleeps next door?"

Robyn was puzzled. "I have the one beside you."

"I hope you don't smoke in bed?"

"Hardly ever."

"I'll know who to blame then if anything happens." At last Maria moved inside, giving a swift glance over the shabby interior. She turned to David. "Isn't there anywhere else?"

"It's safe enough, believe me."

Robyn's bewildered gaze went from one to the other. She couldn't understand this efficient, outgoing young woman allowing a mere possibility of danger to put her into such a state of fear. For it was fear . . . there was no mistaking the sharp note of alarm in Maria's tones.

"Look, you'll be all right. I give you my word! You'd loathe that paint smell in the new units. Tell you what, make do with it just for tonight. The other bures are open to the air and by tomorrow you can move in and chance the paint. Right?"

"If you say so, David." Her smile as she looked towards him was an arrow piercing Robyn's heart.

"I'm sorry it's not more convenient for you." Robyn's apologies died away. It was Maria's own fault if she had to put up with a certain measure of inconvenience. She had arrived earlier than expected and before her new apartment was in readiness for her.

"I've got oodles of messages for you," Maria turned to David. "Bob's set a new skiing record. I don't think I wrote you about it at the time, but you may have read about it in the papers I sent you."

So they corresponded regularly, these two, Robyn mused. Even though it was Maria who was the stranger, she contrived to make Robyn feel that the other two were a twosome and it was she who was the outsider.

"Won't be long, David," Maria was running on. "I'll just put down my things and then you can show me around the grounds."

"I'll be waiting."

Robyn was conscious of a chill sense of dismissal. Turning away, she murmured, "I'll get along." Probably the other two would be far too absorbed in themselves and news of mutual friends to even notice she had left them.

But she was mistaken, for she had taken only a few steps along the path when David came hurrying after her. "Robyn !" She stood still, hoping . . . hoping ... Perhaps everything wasn't going to be spoiled after all. David was planning to leave Maria to her own devices and return to the interrupted tour of inspection. Then she realised that Maria had come out to the terrace and was standing watching — and listening.

"About that black velvet," David said. "You'll need a special type of velvet for the painting. I'll cable the warehouse in Sydney today and get a bolt sent over right away."

She stared up at him dazedly, pushing a long strand of hair back from her face. "Thanks, David."

The last thing of which she was aware was Maria slipping an arm through David's, laughing up into his face, her cropped brown hair very close to his shoulder. "Miss me?"

Robyn didn't wait to hear any more. She was hurrying away towards the shelter of the spreading banana palms, anywhere to be out of sight of the other two, away from the hurtful sound of the other girl's assured proprietorial tones.

That evening she decided to skip dining with the others in the newly-remodelled kitchen. She sent a message by Selani to Mrs. Daley saying that she wouldn't be in to dinner. Let David make what he liked of her absence. Not, she reflected bleakly, that he would even notice, now that his "friend" was here with him. But why give him and Maria the satisfaction of knowing that her eyes were swollen with weeping? Fool that she was, to have mistaken his friendly ways for anything more personal. David was pleasant to everyone. He radiated good temper and warmth — it was one of the traits she liked about him. It meant nothing, except in her own stupid imagination. To think she had hoped that he felt something warmer towards her! She must have been crazy to dream up such thoughts. How could she go on living here with the other two always near at hand, for no doubt David would be at the Islander more often now that Maria was here.

She stayed in her bure, restless, fighting the tide of misery that threatened to overwhelm her. Perhaps if she began work on the mural, sketched out a few rough ideas from which to choose a final design. Dropping to the floor, she lay face downwards on the matting, a sketch pad open before her, but the ideas refused to come. Instead of a tropical scene she saw in her mind the faces of a man and a woman, laughing and intimate. Still she persisted, knowing all the time it was useless, until at last she threw down her pencil and moving to the window, stared moodily outside. The soft dark night had fallen and someone was approaching along the winding path lighted by iron stanchions. In the fitful gleam of the blowing flares she caught sight of David and Maria. She threw herself on the bed and must have fallen into a doze, for some time later, turning restlessly on the pillows, she was aware of a man's deep familiar tones, "'Night," and knew that David had seen Maria back to her bure. His footsteps died away as he returned to the main building.

Less inclined now than ever for sleeping, Robyn switched on the bedside light and attempted to concentrate on a novel, but the printed words danced crazily before her eyes. At intervals as if in sympathy with her mood, shafts of lightning played over the room in brilliant illumination. At length she threw down the book and lighting a cigarette, stared unseeingly before her. How to endure being here with David and Maria tomorrow . . . and all the other tomorrows?

At some hour of the night she must have dropped off to sleep, for she found herself struggling back to consciousness, longing to return to oblivion yet pricked by an alertness of something demanding instant attention. Dazedly it came to her then that the room was pervaded by a strange smell. Smoke! Wide awake now, she realised that flames were running up the curtains and licking around the floorboards. The but was on fire ! What had she learned about fire drill? No matter, get to the door! To linger here would mean unconsciousness, followed by death. Gasping and coughing as her lungs filled with smoke, she struggled towards the entrance. Had she locked the door last night? She couldn't remember. At last, after what seemed an age, she wrenched open the door and stumbled blindly out on to the pathway. At the same time a man came running towards her and she all but fell into his arms. David paused only for a moment. His searching glance ran over her. "Are you all right, Rob?"

"I think so. I"

But with a swiftly spoken, "Call the others! I've got to get to Maria!' he had left her and hurried towards the adjoining hut.

Still in a daze, she ran to the line of bures, flinging open doors, calling loudly, "Fire ! Quick ! Get out!" In a few moments the occupants of the bures came hurrying out of the openings. Mrs. Daley wearing her long white nightgown, the Fijian boys who slept in the next hut, Selani. The men ran towards the sheds and Robyn guessed they were in search of buckets with which to attack the encroaching flames.

 

Shaking with shock, she watched a cloud of smoke billow from the smouldering thatch of the bure occupied by Maria. It was clear that only the last two huts in the line of bures were on fire although the next one to Robyn's, tinder-dry, was already starting to smoulder. It seemed an endless time since she had seen David kick open the door of Maria's hut. "Don't let him be hurt," she prayed. "Don't let anything happen to him !"

"Come along, Robyn," Mrs. Daley was saying, tugging at her arm, but Robyn shook her head. "Soon."

At that moment a man's figure emerged through the flames of the open doorway. In his arms he carried a small inert figure wrapped in a singed blanket. Robyn caught a glimpse of Maria's deathly-white face as he strode towards her. "Robyn ! Come along to the house, quick !"

Obediently, she found herself hurrying along at his side, like a pet dog, to be ordered about, while Maria had to be carried with the utmost tenderness in his arms. As they reached the main building she glanced back where figures were silhouetted against the red blaze as buckets of seawater were dashed on the flaming bures. Then she followed David as he hurried into the hall and into one of the units.

He laid the inert girl on the bed. "Got any brandy?" he enquired of Mrs. Daley. The older woman nodded. "Get some into her right away, will you? I think she's only overcome with the smoke . . . should come out of it before long."

As Mrs. Daley hurried away, the blanket slipped from Maria's unconscious form, revealing a froth of nylon pyjamas and negligee. Robyn shivered to think of what would have happened to the inflammable fabric had not Maria been rescued from the burning hut.

In a few minutes David came back into the room, his anxious glance moving swiftly to the unconscious figure. Then picking up the brandy he went to kneel at her side and held the glass to her lips.

Maria choked and spluttered, then her half-conscious gaze flickered towards him. "David . ." All at once she jerked herself to a sitting position, her face alight with terror. "It happened ... the fire . ." The hazel eyes were wide with fear.

"It's all right," David seated himself at her side and took the small white hand in his reassuring clasp. "You're not hurt, Maria, no one is. There's not a thing to worry about."

Her lips were working, out of control. "But there was a fire —"

He ran a smoke-blackened hand over singed hair. " 'Was' is the word ! I've just been over to have a look at the bures, or what's left of a couple of them. The boys got the fire under control without too much trouble, even if they did have to depend on hand labour and buckets of seawater ! Not that it would have been any great loss if all those tumbledown shacks had gone up in flames. They're due to be demolished any day now." Was he talking to give Maria reassurance? Robyn wondered. To take that stricken look from her eyes? She could scarcely recognise in this abject, terror-stricken girl the self-possessed young woman of earlier in the day. It was odd, because she would have imagined Maria to have been well able to cope confidently with anything that came her way, even to a fire in her but on her first night here. Yet she was obviously in a state of shock that appeared out of all proportion to the hurt she had sustained. "I never wear nylon underwear," she spoke through chattering teeth, "but last night I forgot." She continued to cling to his hand with a compulsive grip. "Where did it start, the fire?"

"Next door to you, actually."

"I know!" Maria's accusing gaze went to Robyn's face, with freckles standing out against the pallor. "It was you," she cried wildly. "It was all your fault! You were smoking in bed! Look at her!" Wildly she swung around to face David. "Still in the clothes she was wearing yesterday! She fell asleep while her cigarette was still alight and set fire the bure!"

Robyn was miserably conscious of her crumpled shift, the singed shreds of the chiffon scarf with which her hair was tied back from her face. For a moment she couldn't remember. Was the table lamp still lighted in the bure when she awoke? She couldn't deny the charge because she wasn't certain herself of what had happened.

"You've got it all wrong, you know." Unexpectedly David came to her rescue. "The boy who came running to tell me about the flames said he'd seen the thatch on the roof catch in a sheet of forked lightning. I beat him back to the bures by about a minute !"

Maria took no notice. "I warned her about that very thing! I told her not to —" To Robyn the other girl appeared to be on the verge of hysteria.

"I'll go and make some tea." She slipped away, meeting Mrs. Daley outside the door, an incongruous figure still wearing her old-fashioned nightwear. The older woman glanced from the tray of teacups in her hand to Robyn. "One of these is for you."

"Thank you, but I'll have it in the kitchen with you and the others."

Robyn dropped down at the table where Selani and the native boys were already gathered, their huge brown eyes wide with excitement as they discussed the events of the night. Pressently through the clamour of voices she became aware of David. He was pouring a cup of steaming tea from a massive teapot and sliding it along the table towards her. "Come on, Rob, down that!"

It was a little late, she mused, suddenly weary, for David to be regarding her with that look of solicitude.

"No after-effects?" He was eyeing her intently.

"None at all."

"Too bad about your stuff. The fire made a clean job of everything inside your bure. Was there anything in particular there that you won't be able to replace?"

She raised her heavy glance to his. Only a love affair, David, but I'm not letting on to you about that! Aloud she murmured, "Not really. Some boxes of paints, a couple of sketchbooks, nothing all that important."

"How about those pictures of the island kids you made in the native village that day?"

So he could still spare a thought for details of her small unimportant doings. "It's all right. I lent them to Selani to show to her sister and she hadn't got around to returning them."

"What about gear ?"

Robyn shrugged. "Just a few shifts and things, a couple of bikinis. Nothing very expensive." Not like Maria, who would have lost a wardrobe of high-fashion garments. She remembered the soft creamy leather travel bags. Anyway, an experienced traveller like Maria would be certain to be well covered for the value of her personal belongings. Not like herself. There was no insurance against a lost love ! She sighed and brought her heavy thoughts back to David's tones.

"I've got to get back to Maria. She's taking all this pretty hard, poor kid."

Kid ! Belatedly she remembered that only his prompt intervention tonight had saved her from real danger, possibly even the loss of her life. "Thanks for ... coming along," she murmured diffidently. Somehow it was awfully hard to concentrate on the words when his gaze was fixed on her downcast face. "It was so late. How did you happen to be still here?"

"Oh, I'd stayed on at the house, working on some plans I was drawing up. I'd just decided to pack it in and call it a day when one of the boys came in shouting that he'd just seen smoke pouring from the roof of your bure."

"Lucky for me ! "

"Luckier for Maria."

Of course he must consider her first of all. From now on, she mused bleakly, it would always be this way. Maria, Maria.

"I'm taking her back to Suva for a few days," David was saying. "The Islander isn't quite ready for guests yet and a change of scene might serve to get the whole thing out of her mind. Before she comes back I'll see that the old bures are

pulled down. That way, there'll be nothing to remind her of what happened tonight."

Robyn wanted to ask him why it was so important that Maria shouldn't be upset in the slightest degree; why he had to go to so much trouble simply for the sake of a new manageress for the Islander. But of course she wasn't thinking straight tonight, she told herself. Why fool herself? Maria was someone special, a girl for whom he obviously cared a lot.

His voice softened. "You'll be all right, Rob? You've got no bad burns, nothing like that?"

"I told you, I'm fine. I got out just in time, not like Maria —"

"No." His tone was abstracted. "It was bad luck, this happening to her. If only there's no permanent damage . . ."

What could he mean? she thought, mystified. "But she wasn't badly burned, was she?"

"No, no. It's just —" He checked himself, frowning thoughtfully and whatever it was he had been about to say, he changed his mind. "She needs looking after for a few days, that's all."

All! Robyn crushed down the hot words that rose to her lips. She might as well get used to the fact right as from this moment that he could think of no one but Maria. Almost she was glad that they were both leaving in the morning !